Whoa. These People Are Running; it is not just a sitcom

It is so hard for me not to be able to argue when I hear a progressive deriding republicans for something they probably never did.  But the republicans do so many really stupid, pandering things that I can't defend them.  It makes it look like the fascist progressives win.

Note how unbiased my writing is?  So did I.  Pandering is pandering.

Remember Bill Richardson, ex governor of New Mexico, when he was running in the democratic field?  Probably 2008 election.  He said he'd cure breast cancer in five years if he were to be elected.  He said it more than once.   The good old days when democrats gathered in packs and competed insanely, just like republicans are doing this year.

Ever since I saw him in that "cure cancer" debate, he has been the poster child, in my mind, of political pandering and an implied view that we are all hopeless nincompoops

Not all of them, actually, but enough.   While we have people pandering to snake handlers, tongue speakers, and potential neck tie party participants on the repub side, the democrats have managed to make Hillary look like a voice of reason and pillar of integrity.  And Bernie comes of as the no-nonsense even better voice of reason.

Hillary tries to buy votes as cheaply as possible.  Bernie doesn't care.  He throws out extravagant promises of cash.  All your loans forgiven. Free university for all.  Plenty of dough to raise a family for all.  Whatever.

I couldn't even retain some of the Huckabee notions among others.  The ones I can, I just don't want to repeat because dems will use it as evidence they are right.  But they aren't.  It's just that some crazy people disagree with them for wrong reasons.  The rest of us do because they'll create even more of a totalitarian state than we have.   And they adhere to economic theories that won't even work if we jump to the quantum level.

So they got upset about warning a caravan of truck drivers before bombing their trucks.  Now I do not know if our people suffered as a result.   If not, and it is true that the had reason to think the drivers were civilian and not active ISIS then fine.  But then I wonder, if they are hired to drive trucks with stolen ISIS oil to wherever the islamic state wants it to go,. then I would think isis already vetted them, force converted or whatever.  So, on one hand, it seemed a reasonable, humaintarian thing to do.  On the other it seems foolish.

Which hand is right?
or correct, I mean.  My right hand is right, of course, and left is left.

A World of Questions and Curiosities

One question is, I wonder what I posted below this.  I think the point may have been skewed or mistaken.  Maybe not.

I have no idea, really, what the essential facts are in the whole refugee deal. The basics appear to be being dodged.  Why no real info on demographics, ons and outs of options and reasons for choosing one over another, etc.

All that is to say, I do not know what's what so how can I even have much of an opinion on the matter?  I have my gut feelings and knee jerk reactions but based on almost zero real info.  So that is unreliable.

Here's what is very bizarre, if you consider it; ANONYMOUS.  How did they settle on the look and the logo?  Or even the mask?  What if they had adopted Frankenstein masks?   No way that would be cooler.  I think they did well, personally--the whole Guy Fawkes deal.  I believe they can do a lot to digitally cripple the insane state.  Let's hope our government can avoid sabotaging all efforts to contain the enemy.

Who would have dreamed that organizations which seem like something out of a comic book would actually be powerful, potentially dangerous entities?  Anonymous is just that.  It seems like there are other examples of real live comic book villains and heroes but none come immediately to mind.

Comic book not to be mistaken for cartoonish.  Almost all the self-titled "public servants" and "leaders" in local through national government are cartoonish.  That's different.

What if Anonymous is actually the brain child of the CIA, or other clandestine spook outfit?   And maybe they figured out how to make it a loose sort of hive, with all kinds of brilliant hacksters.  My word I guess.

That would be an interesting twist.   A way of leveraging power without a trail or record, and without the need for agency and other constraints.  Not saying I approve, but I could see devising such a plan if I were in the position to do so.  I understand that sort of thing.  Also, I would expect it to be done so that the President is unable to hijack it.  A way of wielding power when necessary, and it is out of the reach of most.  And most of the time the power is not wrongly aimed.  But I do think it can and will happen.

I have now talked myself into half believing I know who secretly controls anonymous.  But I don't know that I care.  I do like it that they are publicly calling out isis, and that after the islamic state called them idiots they destroyed something like 5500 isis member accounts of various types; mostly ones used for propaganda like twitter and facebook.  

Geez. Twitter.  Tweets.  Facebook.  We do live in a comic book world.

So, I guess I am a member of two musical groups.  One is country. Sort of Texas Country.  The practice room has a big Texas flag at the end.  To me, that was ten points for the group right there.

And the other group is hard to class.   We are somehow classed as Americana.  Maybe that is my fault. I could think of no others category.  I think that may be a bit off.  Anyway, this group plays just about all original music and I don't know what it is.  I like playing it.  No Texas flag but there is a connection to Tennessee since Sande's mother lives outside of Memphis and she plays there when she visits, which she did a couple of weeks ago.  Got paid to do two or three hours on her own.

A vietnam war vet was telling me how the psychological help has improved.; "yea tyhey quit doing this shit about how my childhood and my parents are to blame for my problems.  Hell, my f'ing parents didn't send my ass to VietNam.  My parents didn't do it!  What am I angry at?  The US government!"  Or words to that effect.

I am convinced that dishonest wars exact a much higher toll on service people's psyches.  If the goal and purpose of the fight is hazy, that has got to be tension generating.

Man, Richard Resonator returned form Nashville for some song writing veteran thing.  I knew that rubbing shoulders with some professional song writers and number one artists would probabl;y make him jump his playing up a notch just from the confidence boost.  I wasn't wrong.

Not that he wasn't already good.  Just a little better.  Or else I am.  Or both.

I'm pulling slowly up out of the hopeless sadness depression confusion.  Not a place you go if you are looking for fun.   Anyway, I can feel it.  It is somewhat of a relief.

I believe there were a couple of times last night, when I played in a way that surprised even me.

Oh, we played the Alpine VFW.  My old friend "the cowgirl up the hill" works there part time managing the bar and got us the gig.  I put her on to Sande but maybe I had something to do with it.

Individually, I think maybe some of us have played better, but as a group, we did better than ever,  And there was something happened on a song where I let loose pretty much all through it, something and then I saw the cowgirl and another girl go wow --reading lips now.  It surprised me too.  Can't describe what it was but it was pretty rad.

Alpine VFW is high up just north of I-8.  The view out the back deck is fantastic.  You can see the mountains and hills just that side of my place.

Then today, I played a place called Julian Station---outside historic, touristy Julian---with Valor and Lace (country).  This is different than playing with Sande.  Of course, it should be.  It was good to have Richard there playing.  It makes me better I think.  He's an intuitive and communicative player. Makes all the difference in the world.

I think the women in each band view the other band with suspicion.  However, they know they have to hide any negative attitude.  Sick as it is, and I definitely avoid feeding any insecurities and such, but I do like that they feel a little possessive.

The Truth About The Syrian Refugee Controversy

That's the automatic title if you share this to blogger direct from youtube.  I don't know if it is all true or mostly true or what.  So -- not really my claim that you see there in the title.





The figures may or may not be accurate.  I have little doubt that the relative values are probably in line.  All he is really saying is that it is cheaper and kinder to relocate refugees in the Middle East where culture, language and many other factors represent a better fit.  And we are talking cheaper on the order of only a tenth the cost of bringing them here, and that doesn't take into account many factors.

I am not real firm regarding who comes and goes, except I do not get carting people across the globe just so we can strain the infra structure and resources of the lucky cities and towns involved.



Positions reversed, I would want to be located in a culture which is as close as possible to my own, and nearby so I can plot possible return to my home or overthrowing the riffraff.  But let's say the Chinese decide they want to show compassion by shipping me into China, where I do not know squat.  That would be bizarro, and I would not like it.



So what is the game here?  Lots of talk of widows and orphans but what is the actual demographic, and why is the US the destination?   I honestly do not know.  I don't mind immigrants in general.  I do mind people who come here, then bitch because we don't meet their expectations and demands.



I remember a Cuban lady in a store in Miami, in the 1970's, telling a middle aged American woman (known as "anglo" in local lingo), "You better learn Spanish if you want get by in OUR city!"[accent and intonation not shown]  Because the angla did not speak the refugee's language.  I cannot imagine being taken in, given refuge and more by a country, and then bitching at them, even if they were a jerk country.

But we encourage this, and people who question what is happening are painted as lacking empathy.   I understand that there are some distasteful reactions going on; suggestions that don't hit the root of the issue.  Or make good Constitutional sense or demonstrate intelligent foresight.



Simple questions ought to be answered, I would think,  Why not settle people there?  The Mid East is a large place.  North Africa is a big chunk of land.



I do disagree with the reasoning that the problem is that there could be terrorists among the multitude of immigrants.  (Even though I have no doubt this is a highway for blood thirsty lunatics as presently designed)  My thinking is that this should be a moot point, at least until we know, "why here?'.  That is not a lack of compassion.

But be careful about that "there could be a trouble maker hidden in that group of X many".  The reason I say it is that it can be turned on you.   It can be turned so we have to prove innocence more than we already do.  And that is a recipe for some people running rough shod over others, legally.

And it diverts attention form the real matter at hand; why are they seeking refuge?  Where is the closest place they can go?  How are they getting there?  What is the demographic mix here; men, women, children, families, etc.?  Approach it like any problem.  And then look rationally at moral imperative and least damaging solutions.

Some Americans are old enough to remember when we were extraordinarily hospitable to refugee groups, at great cost and sacrifice to the community.  Having those immigrants or self hating Americans claim we are lacking compassion, and that we are horrible, ignorant bigots, is not acceptable.   It is a lie and that is that.  Especially when you look at the relative scale of hospitality to refugees and riffraff alike over the decades compared to the rest of the planet.   It's a bitch relocating to most countries.  They discriminate like crazy and make it tough.  But they all find room for money.

We've been so benevolent.   I know people who graduated in certain aspects of computer science, at just the wrong time, to find themselves without opportunity.  In many cases companies hired Indians and others with plenty of experience for far less than our experienced people were getting paid, and they have a special type of work visa they get.  It is a form of corporate welfare, even though some may see it differently.  In certain a specialized IT related fields this drastically reduced the market for entry level personnel.

Not sure how I think on that particular wrinkle, however, those who prefer to feel compassionate rather than to actually be compassionate,  maybe will like that.  To them jobs and wealth are all on a seesaw. They don't quite get it, but that's OK.

The point is, what is the dang deal?  Even this stuff of checking religion and all that is nothing but smokescreen, playing on emotion and not answering the initial why questions.  I have no idea who gains by doing it how the administration wants to do it, or what is being gained.  You can be sure, though, that when a thing like this gets railroaded on appeals to everything but simple reason, a scam is afloat and the collateral damage in annoyance and costs of every ilk-monetary, emotional, moral, survival, etc.-will make waves for some time.

It may not be like huge disaster and all that.  But still, why?

Maybe I am half a veteran

I thought no one ever bothered with my blog any more so I just ended up writing long meandering introspective, disjointed posts.  It is the sadness that chases me, and the whole depression experience that has been a worry lately.

But then someone put a sort of ad out.  A link to this lovely life story, written between and beside the lines.  Now I feel pressure.

I started to write about the strangeness of playing music with PTSD recovering Marine vets who came out of the music therapy program.  It is a new thing, and it works wonders.  Why I seem more shell shocked than they do, I don't know.  I was a reservist.  At one point, a man without a base.

That last part is a long story, but the cool part was that they encouraged me to find a base and, in the event of an emergency, report to the post office.  I guess the post office would then ship me to some Air Force outpost.  Never happened, and one day I received an honorable discharge in the mail.

All that was post Vietnam and pre Mideast build ups and televised, video-game looking assaults.  My one item of gratitude in all that is that there is no draft.  The Draft was a horrible thing.  If you had an unlucky number, your life choices, at an age when you have no idea what they should be, are drastically narrowed.  I am blown away that people volunteer, considering the quality of people who direct where they will be deployed.

But in Vietnam thousands upon thousands of slave soldiers died.  Other injuries and collateral damage is incalculable.  And they were treated poorly by many of the same hypocrites who now blubber and fawn every time they see a person in uniform.  I don't get it.  I think it just makes some of the real deal, like the ex sniper who I back up musically, feel more isolated and apart.  I don't know, but I don't really thank anyone.  I don't send anyone to fight where I would never go, either.

My policy would likely be slightly different than what we have done in the Mideast for many decades.  I wish I better understood the motives because nothing I hear rings true from top to bottom.

Guys like my friend fight to protect their brothers and sisters in arms.  What else is there when the big picture is not all that clear and they are in lands peopled by insane and hysterical populations?

Anyway, back when I was discharged, reservists got zip for their six year obligation in the way of benefits.  I wonder if they make some of it retroactive now.  I know they did decide to give benefits since they have misused the guard units and such, sending them abroad (guard was supposed to be the modern day militia whose job is to protect the domestic side of things. DEFENSE).  Sick.  Really sick.

The good thing is that we don't have 100,000 dead from our excursions to win the hearts and minds of the heartless and mindless lunatics in various hell holes over there.   That doesn't do much for those who come back in pieces or emotionally shattered.  One day in that part of the world, wearing a uniform, and I'd be a basket case.  Or I think I would.

I did it again--rambled and made it too long.  If I think anyone really reads this, I will do better.  It will help me cure the blues which have made me wonder if I lost control of my mind a time or two.  I think I am getting a grip again though.  So many people are crazier and way more annoying than I am, so I should not feel like the biggest waste of space since the largest part of the city of Memphis, and Graceland.  Graceland is a serious ripoff and disappointment.  Sun Studios is the tour you want. Little hole in the wall and the best tourist thing in Memphis.

They Say It Is Never Too Late, but are they right?

Slogans and short little catchy phrases have been the staple of modern logic and philosophy for a long time.  "Where there's smoke there's fire!!".   That means if you get accused of something then you must be guilty.

As many people may have noticed, sometimes smoke can be present, but fire does not happen.  Ignore that though, because we need these non truths in order to do whatever it is we do.  "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem".   That means if you do not do as I say or agree with me, then you are part of the problem and it is OK if we shoot you.

So many more of these gems are being cast over the sea of general nonsense that passes for current affairs, that I can't even keep up.  We actually dance around offensive words like 'THE N-WORD".  Just don't use the word.  I do not like it a bit.  I did not like it when I was working with people who used it.

They were black so that made it cool.  But I told them I did not want to here it and they were playing a racist game with all the "give a nigga a break" talk to one another while I am right there.  But somehow it is twisted into the consciousness that ethnicity is a value and that normal values are different depending upon your condition of birth.

Just like violence is considered impolite, but if you stop traffic with no regard for the health and needs of those strangers, it is OK because you have a "good cause".   If you are part of an angry mob using such force, you are revered as courageous as long as you claim you are in some way a victim.

So, clearly, conventional wisdom  and slogans are not strong philosophical elements which can really stand the test of reason and right.  And that brings me back to suspecting that it really is too late for me.  If it is, what now?  Bring on the parasail and 15000 feet altitude, we'll ad lib the rest.

I want to change this condition and lifestyle.  Drastically.  I did quit smoking and, long before that, I quit drinking.   But I live in a state of fear that I am losing it, and will never de-isolate, find meaning, and do it well.   It is an unknown variable here.

Aside from that, I read a comment somewhere in which the commenter said that the Oxford comma is an insult to the reader.  OK, I thought,  if a reader is insulted by a comma, perhaps he is not someone I am targeting with my writing, so I should just comma away and hope to drive off such pompous dweebs.  Really?

Sometimes English majors, and Music majors can affect the sort of nerdism that will never ever be cool.  They lose the soul of the content by becoming overly enamored with their grasp of the form and esoteric notations and such.   The rules and regulations are necessary and nice but the infatuation with inside knowledge of terms, etc. can be annoying.  Like a cop who has no idea why he is writing a ticket, ignoring the reality of things around him or the needs and condition of his victim.  Sometimes you let it go.

Anyway, comas, punctuation, unusual time signatures, and other nonsense are more important to some than others.  I still hope, that if I am ever read by many people, that I offend those who find particular comma placement insulting.  And I hope they go away and we never meet.  It's probably something to do with the Mr Bobo syndrome.  He said I was tone deaf.  Lots of teachers thought I was an idiot.  They were half right.  They just missed the savant aspect.

Oh, and if you want to annoy people with your culture and beliefs by making it hard for them to ignore you, and you want to make them look bad because you annoy them, just add the suffix "phobic" or "phobia" to whatever your tag is.   That way, if you are being rude and pushy with it, you can just accuse those offended of being ____phobic.  Yay.

No Good Side

Whereas I do believe the incessant self hatred of the progressive political class is at the root of the resurgence in racial hatred, I recognize that there are some real fools in all camps.

Some people sound like they are all ready to ride with the sheriff's posse and go get the bad guys.  "Let's have a neck tie party!", they shout while spinning a lariat rope.   I have to wonder why, if the whereabouts of the IS is known are people only now showing any serious resolve to wipe them out.

Or have they never known what is what and are we flailing in the dark?  I doubt it.  But if not, then something makes no sense.  Why would you wait until this?  Surely a political thing, and that means a person or persons high up is willing to compromise his values.

We Have Been PC Thinking Ourselves Right Over the Edge

Here's the deal.  I don't like funerals very much.  But I do go to those of friends and relatives.
I don't not go to funerals around town just to show solidarinosc and assure them that I do not think my friends and relatives matter more than theirs.

I feel more of a connection with Europe than I do with the MidEast.  Just the way it is. heritage, genealogy, who knows.  Also I tend to expect a lot of blowing up in the mid east. Not sure where that idea came from.

It just works out that I am more upset when Paris gets attacked than I am about cities which have less in common with whatever home is.   That does not mean I am thrilled about any of it.  I have wondered how all the players over there could let this band of lunatics rise to such power.  I suspect we've armed them indirectly.

But to get upset because we tend to mourn our own more intensely than we do the misfortune of strangers is to be searching for yet another excuse to play superior to one's people by vilifying them for their natural compassion.  Hate your own people because they react naturally.  These other places are certainly not as sympathetic toward others as they are their own.

Another of the self hating white people trying to pander so they can be cool and glom on to the victimhood of minorities.   If they do it just right, no one will notice that they are white, or even rich and white.  It is almost an Uncle Tom horse of a different color.  

I mean, why be so race obsessed?  I suspect it is the only way they can sooth their secret angst at their true feelings of superiority. They will lead the poor, ignorant other minorities against the white, Mr. Man devil.   Kind of like musical chairs.  Can't parse it down much further, although the lbgt contingent managed to get some traction there.

If I were famous, I could not say this.  It would be taken wrong in many circles anyway.

You cannot fix racism or oppression with more racism and oppression.  Affirmative action has been a big step in that direction.  The shaping of the culture has encouraged it.  And now we wonder why students consider it peaceful as long as they are in control or the ones being heard.  Never mind all the violations of the rights of others.  In their minds, if you disagree with them, you are evil, and trying to kill them, so any form of retaliation is OK.  Standard victim mentality fare.

It is embarrassing what people say and do.  The upset that Paris got such attention is twisted.  Do you think the Chinese see it as we do?  Probably not.  France is not a big deal to them in that way.  Doesn't mean they are happy about it.  Now, I know the self haters can't say anything bad about China, and it is just human nature for what I said to be true.  So, how can you argue with that?

Here we go

I deleted the page.  No use even trying to say anything.  The responses people get for saying anything about Paris, other than whining because Europeans and Americans have more interest in Paris than Somalia or Beirut, cause me to thing free speech is a thing of the past and so is reason.

It is a waste to even bother.  It is like trying to reason with a mob.  Doesn't work.  But I wonder

Why are the people leaving Syria not going to nearby Islamic states?  If it is just the small faction who do the violence, then there are closer stops.  And if they come here why would we encourage retaining the culture?  The culture seems conducive to mass mischief which ends poorly.   Maybe I don't get it.

But I do not go other places and try to make them bend to my ways, either.  Most people must do it otherwise

What Is With The Stubborn Progressive Koolaid Kult?

So, I see lots of French flags now on facebook.   Just like the rainbow thing people did to show solidarinosc with same-same marriage, even though they are not in that condition.  Hate to say it but I think it is nonsense.  But I also don't think it is the job of the federal government to involve itself in marriage other than when contracts are involved.  Marry your car, I do not care.  So, I see it as an intrusion that it ever got to court because I think it is a power overstep.

But my way would require wiping out the majority if not all of the tax code, and plenty else.

Now, I look and we have the French solidarinosc, and I get that, sort of.  These symbolic gestures are dandy, but if you then turn around and ridicule those who suggest the muslim influx and segregated sharia law zones may set the groundwork for trouble, I think you are naive.

I see responses that say things like, yea, ok, pray for Paris, but what about all these people walking a thousand miles and no one wants to let them in?  and on and on. It is nuts, really nuts.  Some progressive spin to ignore the fact that there is a pattern to these events.  It is not just random people.

It is as if they want to ignore the fact that a well orchestrated act of terror and mass murder occurred, and further, to ignore any information regarding the perps.  Just bizarre.  But let someone post a year old pic on facebook, claiming it just now happened on campus--like the fecal swastika--did not even happen in context we been hearing--and oh my god, no talk of Lebanon and Iraq now.

The thing I saw went on and on about how awful it is that people suggest that the flood of islamic immigrants may in any way influence domestic tranquility, as if that was actually a bigger crime than mass murder in the name of alah 'n' 'em.

How bizarre to all of a sudden hijack an undeniably sick, backwards, act of murder and cruelty in order to deride those who most vehemently decry such acts.  How dare they condemn mass murderers and their sanctuaries when babies are suffering in refugee camps?  WTF?

If this were a series of microaggressions rather than full tilt slaughter, I suppose then those koolaid addled progressive, humanity hating types would be a little more upset and sympathetic to the victims and their families.

The writer of this little essay was so upset that Paris received more attention and sympathy on line that bombings in Beirut and Baghdad.  I unapologetically care more about Paris, and Europe, in general, than I do about Lebanon or Iraq.  For one thing, Lebanon and Iraq are pretty much in the thick of the world of islam and its various splinter factions.  We expect them to blow up one another because that is what happens a lot.

Granted, many Lebanese and Iraqis are fine peaceful people who have probably never even participated in a stoning.  Apparently not enough are of that ilk that they create free and peaceful places which do not allow any such activity.  In any case, mourning the fact that the news in the free world is more concerned with Paris than Baghdad is nuts.  Just ridiculously nuts.

I want to go to Beirut and complain about what they find of interest if it doesn't include me.

I'm afraid to set foot on a college campus because I am, no doubt, a walking bundle of micro-aggressions and triggers.  The students would either be in tears or would burn me at the stake.  That is how the victim thing works; any brutality the self proclaimed victims inflict is OK because they got dibs on being the oppressed.

I expect a lot of insanity from stubborn progressives who always start at the point of creating a victim class and a pretend oppressor class that they hate; a class on which they declare open season. Amazing.  So sorry that the opposition is mostly comprised of cartoonish panderers who hurt the cause of sanity, even though they are somewhat saner than the koolaid drinking progressive, lockstep, nazi-like narrow minded misanthropes.

Anything remotely western or european or, God forbid, American seems to trigger a kneejerk reaction of disapproval, hatred, ridicule.  And that is from european-Americans.  The ones who think if they pretend to hate white people that blacks and Mexicans won't beat them up or kill them.  Maybe they'll even accept them as cool if they pretend to hate themselves enough.  Lame idiots.

I'm going to find a safe place where none of my thoughts are challenged, the 1% can't get me, and no one will trigger me or micro assault me.

Social Commentary; the surly bonds of comm device hubris

So, this guy, on the face booking, who has obviously done it right, is visiting his son in Colorado on an idyllic mountainside, in a two or three story wooden, chalet sort of place.  He sees some birds, black with white stripes, and he asks if anyone knows what kind of bird it is.

Just a simple question.  Had I known, I would have left the information in a comment.   Someone left a comment.  I thought, oh good, I will discover the type of bird because I am now curious.

But NO!  This person says, get xyz app.  It is free and it tells you bird types.  WTF?  Do you have the app.?  If so, why do you not look up the bird he posted in the pictures, then share the info.  If you care to you can inform him about the app that has this info.  He may not want to add an app.  And he might.  Would a friend withhold the info just to force him to comply?

I would be ticked if someone gave me "There's an app, go get it" in answer to a question. That is a snarky, annoying answer.  If anyone does this, you have my permission to slap them and kick them to the curb.